Twitter and IBM in data analytics pact for businesses

Twitter and IBM have announced a landmark pact that will enables enables IBM to tap into Twitter's data feed and make it available to businesses

IBM said this would help transform how businesses and institutions understand their customers, markets and trends – and inform every business decision.

"The alliance brings together Twitter data that distinctively represents the public pulse with IBM's industry-leading cloud-based analytics, customer engagement platforms, and consulting services," the technology giant said in a statement.

Twitter data will be offered in IBM Watson Analytics, a new cognitive service that brings intuitive visualization and predictive analytics to business users, and other cloud-based analytics solutions from IBM.

The collaboration will focus on three areas: Integration of Twitter data with IBM analytics services on the cloud: IBM plans to offer Twitter data as part of select cloud-based services, including IBM Watson Analytics, a new cognitive service that brings intuitive visualisation and predictive capabilities to business users; and a cloud-based data refinery service that enables application developers to embed data services in applications.

Entrepreneurs and software developers will also be able to integrate Twitter data into new cloud services they are building with IBM's Watson Developer Cloud or IBM Bluemix platform-as-a-service.

New data-intensive capabilities for the enterprise: IBM and Twitter will deliver a set of enterprise applications to help improve business decisions across industries and professions. The first joint solution will integrate Twitter data with IBM ExperienceOne customer engagement solutions, allowing sales, marketing, and customer service professionals to map sentiment and behavior to better engage and support their customers.

Specialised enterprise consulting: IBM Global Business Services professionals will have access to Twitter data to enrich consulting services for clients across business.

Additionally, IBM and Twitter will collaborate to develop unique solutions for specific industries such as banking, consumer products, retail, and travel and transportation.

The partnership will draw upon the skills of tens of thousands of IBM Global Business Services consultants and application professionals including consultants from the industry's only integrated Strategy and Analytics practice, and IBM Interactive Experience, the world's largest digital agency.

''Twitter provides a powerful new lens through which to look at the world – as both a platform for hundreds of millions of consumers and business professionals, and as a synthesizer of trends,'' said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and CEO. ''This partnership, drawing on IBM's leading cloud-based analytics platform, will help clients enrich business decisions with an entirely new class of data. This is the latest example of how IBM is reimagining work.''

''When it comes to enterprise transformation, IBM is an undisputed global leader in enabling companies to take advantage of emerging technologies and platforms,'' said Dick Costolo, Twitter CEO. ''This important partnership with IBM will change the way business decisions are made – from identifying emerging market opportunities to better engaging clients, partners and employees.''

With the development of new solutions to improve business decisions across industries and professions, IBM and Twitter will be able to enrich existing enterprise data streams to improve business decisions.

For example, the integration of social data with enterprise data can help accelerate product development by predicting long-term trends or drive real-time demand forecasting based on real-time situations like weather patterns.

"IBM brings a unique combination of cloud-based analytics solutions and a global services team that can help companies utilize this truly unique data," said Chris Moody, vice president of Twitter Data Strategy. "Companies have had successes with Twitter data – from manufacturers more effectively managing inventory to consumer electronic companies doing rapid product development. This partnership with IBM will allow faster innovation across a broader range of use cases at scale.''